Many types of digital electronic machines (e.g., computers) include a local read only memory (“ROM”) in which executable code is stored for use by the machine during an initialization process. The ROM and related circuitry may occupy an undesirable amount of space on a circuit board. Further, in systems having numerous computers coupled together in a network, managing the executable code stored in the ROMs of each computer can be problematic. For example, “flashing” the ROM (i.e., replacing some or all of the contents of the ROM) of each computer in a network having numerous computers can be an undesirably time-consuming and inefficient process.